Chapter 46
Valens
Istood at the side of the stage next to Lucien, staring out over the roiling mass of gathered werewolves.
The outdoor amphitheater was lit with interspersed torches, so I could see more expectant faces than I expected.
It was awe-inspiring. Our individual packs had melded into one greater whole, and this was only about half of those coming, according to Reed’s calculations.
Dirge stood on my other side, his own attention fixed on the front row, where our females sat surrounded by their three maiden guards.
“I should be down there with them,” he muttered under his breath.
Lucien reached over, slapping him supportively on the shoulder. “I know it’s weird. But the maidens will kick anyone’s ass who looks at them funny. Not to mention, either Shay or Fi could absolutely fry anyone who put a toe out of line.”
“Damn straight she could.” Dirge grinned at that, obviously proud of the fact that his mate was half greater fae, with all the massive power that came with it.
“Which is why we’ve got to be up here for Kane. The women can handle themselves.”
“Speak of the devil. It’s showtime.” Lucien elbowed me, nodding toward Kane as he walked up with Reed and Gael on either side.
Not that he needed bodyguards either. I’d heard the stories of how he flattened a whole battlefield the last time he shifted.
Raucous cheers rose from the crowd as he climbed to the dais.
Kane was gracious, surprisingly calm from the outside as he raised a hand in greeting to the hundreds of gathered wolves.
When he reached the center of the dais, a wave of dominance rolled out over us, an Alpha demand for quiet.
You could almost see it ripple through the crowd in a wave. Many stumbled back, or mouths dropped open in shock at their first taste of their new high alpha’s true power.
Little did they know, he’d only let out a thread, a tease of what he could pull when needed.
None of them would ever guess that his small, smiling mate could pull the same amount of dominance when push came to shove.
Only those of us closest to him would know the truth until the battle began. He wanted to instill trust, not fear.
“Welcome, and thank you all for coming. Many of you have come a great distance, at great personal cost, to be here and fight alongside me. You have left your own families, pups, and elders to fight at my side. I owe you a personal debt of gratitude, and I want each and every one of you to hear it from me first. Thank you. Your sacrifices are humbling, and I appreciate your loyalty.”
There was an eardrum-splitting roar of approval from the crowd that had my wolf on edge and flattening his ears in annoyance.
But you couldn’t deny that the people were happy. They seemed to relish a leader who acknowledged them, even en masse.
Kane gestured for silence again, and this time, it took a few more moments to simmer down, but he kept his power tightly reined in.
“My mate and I have had the pleasure of meeting with many of you over the last few days.” His gaze strayed to the front row, where all the ladies sat. His focus was no doubt on Brielle, but I couldn’t peel my own away from Elodie if a bomb had exploded three feet to my left.
She was radiant and proud, so ferociously strong in that moment, it made my heart stutter in my chest. Her chin was high, her rich blue uniform tunic freshly pressed, and her butterfly sword was gleaming in the torchlight.
And the look in her eyes when they met mine for a split second?
Determination, of course, but there was heat, connection there too.
I was a proud male, lucky to hopefully call her mine one day.
Lucien tensed at my side as Kane asked Brielle to join him on the stage.
My heart was in my throat as Elodie walked at her side, naked sword in her hand as they climbed the steps on our side of the dais.
Her scent washed over me softly as she passed, vanilla and hazelnut making my mouth water, while the soft floral undernotes wrapped around me like a caress as I dragged in a torturously perfect lungful.
“Be ready,” Lucien murmured to Dirge and me. “I don’t know what he’s got planned, but he wanted us to be ready if things went sideways.”
Fuck.
Elodie stood a bit behind Brielle to her right, keeping cover on her even with the high alpha immediately to her left.
And for the first time, looking out over the sea of hungrily expectant faces staring up at us, I felt a tendril of fear.
It had been a while since I realized my mate’s life could be forfeit for another.
We’d been in a bubble, out running missions that weren’t her usual maiden’s job.
Investigating, rubbing elbows with politicians.
But this? This was what she had trained for.
There wasn’t a wolf alive who could have mistaken her for anything less than a maiden, trained by the enclave, there under the torchlight with her radiant raven hair and stunningly red lips.
“Thank you all for being here,” Brielle said, adding a gracious wave.
There was a smattering of applause, but tension was beginning to build now, as if people expected something more.
“You all know that you’ve been called for a war gathering,” Kane began, his voice calm even as he began to unfold the tale. “But what most of you don’t know is the battle that my inner circle and I have already been fighting over the past few months.”
Brielle leaned in closer to his side for a brief moment, then stepped back behind him, next to Elodie, and my gut sank.
He’s about to tell them. All of them.
And as dread curdled in my stomach, that was exactly what he did.
Recounted the whole, gory tale from the beginning.
How, after his wolf claimed Brielle, he’d discovered what she was, that they’d confirmed it with the Kodiaks of Ushagat Island.
The way many assassins had tried and failed to pick them off.
The way the ODL had been dogging their steps and taking out innocent supernaturals across species with zero remorse in their pursuit.
How they’d been forced to take shelter among the maidens, forced to fight to regain the wolves’ own birthright, the omega stone.
The way the pixie king sought to turn other packs against us, tearing us down from within our own kind, sought to control and enslave those without thought, and used them to build an army that waited to sweep in and attack us.
By that point, the entire fucking crowd was mesmerized, breaths held, eyes wide, expressions ranging from shocked horror to tawdry delight across the sea of faces enthralled by his tale. I understood it. It was a fucking roller coaster of a story, and every damn word was true.
But when Brielle withdrew the gleaming, softball-sized stone from a pouch at her side, they all seemed to gasp as one. It was still crisscrossed in red spiderwebs, but most of the gathered wolves didn’t know that was a problem.
Brielle looked anxiously at Kane, but he nodded his approval and returned to his tale with the same even tone.
“That stone, the source of grave danger and life-threatening injury, is now whole. And as long as we hold it, it can amplify Brielle’s powers to all wolf packs worldwide.
Which means your she-wolves will no longer die in labor or from pregnancy complications.
Your pups will be born healthy, at full term.
Your lonely wolves will begin to find their other halves—” He chuckled, then, waving to someone who squealed toward the front of the crowd.
“As a few of you have told me you already have. Congratulations, by the way.”
Shaking his head, he wrapped it up. “As much as this goes against what we know in recent history, I believe with every piece of my being that this is the Goddess setting us back on our correct path. We were meant for this moment. We were meant to right this wrong done to our people. So, I ask you now, with the full knowledge you have, will you stand with us? Will you fight with us?”
Silence reigned, the clearing almost eerily quiet after the rousing speech he’d just finished so eloquently.
And then Shay, brave, beautiful Shay, with her shimmering electric powers dancing on full display over her skin and her crown of wild, raven curls, strode to the dais.
“I and mine will stand with you.” All over the clearing, men and women raised their voices in howls of agreement.
But from the vantage where I stood, I saw there was more to her promise.
Flashes of light burst all around the clearing, some between the wolves, some in the back, some out in the depths of the forest, bright enough still to be seen, fae flashed in and out of our realm, showing up to support their lost daughter.
Holy shit.
“Did she just pledge the greater fae court to our cause?” I turned the question on Dirge.
He grinned at Lucien and me, pride beaming from his face. “She sure as fuck did.”
She returned to the rest of our women as wolves began to pour to the front of the dais, pledging their loyalty and support to the high alpha’s cause. And for just a moment, it seemed like Kane’s pretty speech had erased the dangers we’d been told to guard against.
And then I saw him. A scrawny punk of a wolf with a chip on his shoulder as big as his ego.
Alajos.
I grimaced when I realized he was dragging Jerica behind him by the arm, looking less than pleased to be there.
“You can’t trust this alpha! None of them!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, obviously trying to cause a stir and not caring who he upset. “They’re liars! They come under a banner of peace and friendship, but he had one of his cronies subjugate our pack when we wouldn’t fold to his demands!”
Jerica tried to yank her arm away as the other wolves crushed in, but I could see the bruising force of his grip indenting her flesh.
I snapped. Red haze fell over my vision, and the world narrowed to those fingertips crushing into her. I didn’t remember leaping from the dais, flying over heads as I landed in front of them with ground-shaking force. My guardian’s mark burned on my chest, urging me to right this wrong.
“Valens! Wait!” Kane called, standing at the edge of the dais.
“He shouldn’t be silenced. All are welcome to hear what he has to say, just as all are free to leave if they don’t wish to fight now that they have the details.
” He had raised his voice again, letting it ring out over the clearing.
“No one will be held here to fight a war against their will.”
I nodded to the high alpha so he knew I heard and acknowledged him, but I wasn’t done with Alajos yet.
I peeled his fingers off his sister’s arm one by one, putting just enough force into each one that the bones seemed to wheeze under the effort of not cracking.
“You can run your mouth all you want, but you won’t put your hands on an unwilling woman.”
“My stupid bitch of a sister is going to stay with me, like good family should,” he seethed, just before Jerica’s palm landed with a ringing slap against his cheek.
“I think she’s given you her answer. Come with me,” I urged her more quietly, using my arm to clear a path through the crowd so she could step away from him.
She spat on his boots as she walked away.
I escorted her to the front row, where Dakota urged her to a seat with the rest of our women.
That handled, I climbed back onto the dais, accepting a half-hidden fist bump from Lucien and an approving growl from Dirge.
As nice as it was to be on the right side of things now that Petró was dead and gone, I was done waiting for approval from others. If the trash in my own pack needed taking out, well, call me the garbage man. I was ready to get dirty.
To my eternal chagrin, Kane invited Alajos onto the stage, gesturing that he could take the front and center position to address the wildly curious crowd.
It never occurred to Alajos that Kane was unafraid because he was on the right side of history. That his words might not land.
But as he stood there and began to fling accusations and curses at the crowd who’d just watched him manhandle his own sister, he was impervious to it all.
The way the mood changed. The fury that lit so many males’ eyes. The rumble of unease, the slow chant beginning at the back of the crowd.
Exile. Exile. Exile.
One word, repeated on loop until it grew in such volume that Alajos could no longer shout over it.
Kane stepped forward, loosing another tendril of his dominance to quiet the crowd and gesturing Lucien forward.
“I remand Alajos into the keeping of Alpha Vasilescu of the Hungarian pack, as his sister has been harmed by his decisions, and she’s a member in good standing of his pack. He’s yours to do with as you see fit.”
Lucien didn’t hesitate to unleash his own dominance, driving Alajos to his knees in a single move, then zip-tying his hands behind his back and marching him off the stage.
I didn’t see who he passed the prisoner off to, only felt the relief that he was gone.
With any luck, I’d never have to see him again. He was a shit stain our pack couldn’t seem to clean off, a glaring reminder of the cancerous wound Petró had all but nurtured inside us.
Good riddance. Good fucking riddance.